Garment hanger



July 10, 1956 T. L. VARKER 2,754,038

GARMENT HANGER Filed Feb. 5, 1954 jnvenfor Thomas L. VurKer ATTX GARMENT HANGER Thomas L. Varker, Forty Fort, Pa.

Application February 5, 1954, Serial No. 408,367

8 Claims. (Cl. 223-94) This invention relates to garment hangers and is directed particularly to improvements in hangers of a collapsible type.

The garment hanger of the present invention is of the type which includs a hanging or suspending member which may be in the form of a rigid hook, with a lower portion to which are attached supporting arms which project laterally from opposite sides of such lower portion and wherein such supporting arms are pivotally and slidably connected to the said lower portion whereby they may be swung downwardly into a folded condition below the portion to which they are attached.

Further, the collapsible garment hanger of the present invention is of a type wherein the laterally extending arms have portions thereof slidably connected with said lower portion of the suspension hook, which said portions of the arms are spring biased and tend to urge the arms to swing upwardly to a normal working position wherein they extend in aligned relation perpendicular to the said lower portion of the hook with which they are connected.

The collapsible garment hanger of the present invention is adaptable for use in homes; manufacturing plants where blouses, shirts, etc. are manufactured; laundries, where blouses, shirts or the like are both Washed and ironed; and for supporting garments of various types of apparel such as coats, shirt waists, coat sweaters, pull-over sweaters, etc. or whatever type the garments may be, where such garments may be provided with buttons or other securing means, whereby, when the garments are closed and where it is desired to readily remove the garments from the hangers, or vice versa, such removal may be accomplished without unbuttoning or otherwise opening the garment.

The garment hanger of the present invention is designed in a new and novel manner whereby, when used in the home, for example, it is ideally suited for supporting shirt waists, blouses and other articles of apparel that are hung on the garment hanger and buttoned, thus making it possible by a simple manual collapsing of the arms, to remove the garment from the hanger without unbuttoning the garment. For example, where the garment hanger is supported on a hook or rod in a closet, it is a very simple matter, by the use of the present hanger, to remove a buttoned blouse, shirt waist, coat or like garment without unbuttoning the latter by simply collapsing the laterally extending arms of the hanger which may then pass through the neck opening of the garment.

Likewise, in commercial establishments, such as manufacturing plants, laundries, and the like where such garments may be suspended in large quantities from supporting rods or bars to be removed periodically for purposes of ironing, cleaning or for other operations, the present improved garment hanger makes it convenient for the operator to remove the garment easily and quickly without having to stop and unbutton the same to effect such removal as would be required in connection with the use of those types of garment hangers in which the supporting arms are rigidly connected to the supporting United States Patent ice hook and cannot be moved or shifted relative to the supporting hook or to one another.

Also in commercial establishments of the character stated, as well as in homes, the garment hanger of the present invention can be easily and quickly inserted into a garment such as a coat, blouse, shirt waist or the like, which is already buttoned up, by collapsing and extending the arms through the neck opening, the inherent resiliency of the arms, together with the novel manner in which they are connected to the lower portion of the hook, functioning to automatically restore the arms to normal laterally extending position relative to the hook, when the: arms are relased. I

Then too, in connection with garments on hangers: constructed in accordance with the present invention and which hangers with the garments buttoned thereon are suspended on racks or the like, one may simply take a blouse, shirt waist, etc., that is buttoned, and Without taking it from the hanger, fold it with the hanger therein, in a box or other receptacle, and then by reason of the folded or collapsed condition of the arms, readily remove the hanger from the garment without disturbing its folded or packed condition in the box or container.

A clearly marked distinction is to be made between the collapsible garment hanger of the present invention and so-called collapsible or foldable garment hangers of the prior art. In prior art devices to which reference is had, hangers are found with foldable arms which are provided primarily for collapsibility and compactness in shipment and for storing the hangers in a traveling bag or the like. Such prior art garment hangers are not designed to facilitate the placement of the hanger within a closed garment, such as a buttoned coat, shirt waist, or the like, or to facilitate the removal of such buttoned-up or closed garment from the hanger, as is the present invention.

In the light of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new and novel collapsible garment hanger,which may be formed of suitably heavy wire or other suitable material and consisting of relatively few parts and totally devoid of springs or other elements as such for effecting movement of the arms to and maintaining the same in an operative position, that is, in a position in which they extend laterally from the lower portion of the suspension member, such as a hook or the like, for the support of a garment.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved foldable garment hanger designed to perform the functions hereinbefore set forth, wherein the supporting arms have portions having an inherent resiliency which is utilized to effect the automatic positioning of the arms in aligned relation and extending laterally outwardly from the lower portion of the suspension member to which they are attached, ready for use but which permits the arms to be easily and quickly folded downwardly into a partially overlapped relation whereby a supported garment is released by the passage of the garment hanger through the neck opening of the garment.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an improved collapsible garment hanger wherein movable resilient portions of the arms, which cause the arms to return to an operative position when released, are slidably engaged with a lower portion of the suspension member such as a hook or the like While other portions of the arms are pivotally attached thereto, with means for effecting latching engagement of the slidable resilient portions of the arms with the lower portion of the hook or suspension member when the hanger is in unfolded condition.

Still another object of the invention is to provide, in a manner as hereinafter set forth, a new and novel collapsible garment hanger having the above set forth features wherein the construction is such that the hanger can be:

used on any type of garment in the same manner as the conventional rigid type of hanger such as" is commonly in use.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the description of the same proceeds and the invention will be best understood from a con sideration of the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing forming a part of the specification, with the understanding that the invention is not confined to a strict conformity with the showing of the drawing but may be changed or modified within the scope of the appended claims.

In the drawing:

Fig. l is a view in frontelevation of a collapsible garment hanger constructed in accordance with the present invention, showing the same with the supporting arms in laterally extending. relation with the lower portion of the suspension hook and showing'in broken outline the upper portion of a garment thereon.

Fig. 2 is an elevational view of the hanger in collapsed condition.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section taken substantially on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a horizontal section taken substantially on the line 4 4 of Fig. 1.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing, it will be seen that the collapsible-garment hanger comprises essentially three distinct or major portions which are the central suspension portion which is generally designated and the two arm portions which are attached to the lower part thereof and which are designated 12 and 14.

The central or suspension portion comprises at the top, the hook 16 by means of which the device can be attached to a supporting bar or other supporting means. While the construction illustrated shows a hook, it is to be understood that the invention need notbe limited to this particular form since it will be obvious that under some conditions of use another arrangement may be employed for hanging the hanger, as for example, by the use of an eye or a T-head.

In the construction here illustrated, the hook 16 is shown as being formed integral with a long lower shank portion which is generally designated 10a.

The lower end of this shank portion 10a is shaped or otherwise formed to provide an eye 18 for the purpose hereinafter set forth.

Adjacent to its upper end, the shank portion 10a is ofiset laterally in a plane paralleling the plane of the hook 16 toform a retaining recess which is generally designated 20, in which portions of the arms 12 and 14 may engage in the manner and for the purpose hereinafter set forth.

The offset portion of the shank which provides the recess 20 has the lower, short and obliquely extending leg 21, the top of which forms a shoulder 22 for the purpose hereinafter set forth. The outer end 0fthis leg'21 connects with the straight, upwardly extending back portion 23 for the recess and this back portion, at its top end, joins the transversely extending leg 24 which functions as a stop in the use of the hanger, in the manner hereinafter described.

As shown, the stop leg 24 is of greater length than the lower leg 21 of the offset portion of the shankand it extends across the line of that portion of the shank with which the leg 21 joins.

The arms 12 and 14 are, roughly, of elongated V-form, as shown, and each comprises a lower bar 25 and an-upper bar 26.

At its outer end','the upper bar of each arm'curves slightly toward the outer end of thelower bar withwhich it is joined, as indicated at 26a, so as to have a proper;

contour for fitting the curved inner surface of'a garment, such as acoat, shirt waist or thelike.

The inner end ofeach of the lower or bottom bars 25, which may bedefined asdhc free-end of 1113.531" in the sense that it is not directly joined to the upper bar 26,

carries a pivot eye 27 and the eye 18 at the lower end of the shank 10' has the eyes 27 of the arm bars 25'positio'rid at opposite sides thereof as shown in Fig. 4 and, extending through the aligned eyes 18 and 27, is a pivot rivet which is generally designated 28 and which is here shown as having the head 29 on one end of the body portion 30 thereof while upon the opposite end may be placed a washer 31 which is held in position by swaging the end of the body 30 as indicated at 3 2. This is one preferred construction by which the eyes 27 may be pivotally joined to the eye 18 at the lower end of the shank 10a but it will be understood that, since other pivot connecting means may be advantageously employed, the invention is not limited to the illustrated construction.

The bars 25 and 26 of each arm are so angularly related that when the lower or bottom bar 25 is horizontally disposed as shown in Fig. 1, the upper bar 26 will be disposed at an upward inclination toward the offset recessed portion of the shank 10a.

Each of the upper bars 26 has a terminal free end p or-L tion 26b which is angularly disposed with respect to the remaining portion of the bar so as to assume a substan tially parallel relation with the bottom or lower bar when the arms are extended laterally from the shank portion 10a. When so extended laterally as shown Fig. 1, the arms may be defined as being in working or operative position and when they are folded as shownin Fig. 2, they may be defined as being in garment releasingposition. 7 V I v 7 Each of the terminal portions 26b carries a runnereye or loop 33 which eyes are in overlapping relation as shown in Fig. 3 and which have the lower or shank portion 10b of the support member extended therethrough;

The runner eyes 33 are free to slide up and down upon;

the shank portion below the shoulder 22. The supporting arms 12 and 14 are preferably made of springs te'el wire,

which is inherently springy, and the bars of each arm are biased so that they tend constantly to swing apart at their inner ends and accordingly it will be seen that this tendency will urge the runner eyes to move upwardly onthe shank portion 10a to arrange or dispose the arms in the aligned laterally extending relation in which they are shown in Fig. 1. In this separating action of the bars of each arm, the uppermost runner eye 33 will ride first over the obliquely directed portion 21 of the oifset part of the shank and will be limited in its upward movement by con tacting the under side of the stop leg-24. The lowermost; runner eye 33 will, of course, follow and also ride up wardly across the inclined leg 21. This separating action of the bars of the two arms will be checked when the runner eyes ride onto the back portion 23 of the ofisetas the upward movement of the eyes will be stopped by the stop leg 24 and the top bars will tend to pull apart so asto clamp or secure the part 23 between them as shown in Fig. 3.

As hereinbefore stated, the present collapsible garment: hanger can be readily inserted for use in any type of;

garment, which action is facilitated bythe provision of the stop leg 24. In so using the hanger, the ends ofthe upper bars 26 will be engaged from the under sidebotween the index and second fingers of the hand with the shank portion 10a between such fingers and the stop leg 24 will limit the upward movement of the runner eyes as the weight of the garment is placed on the arms. When the weight of the garment comes tobear upori the arms,

it will beimposed mostly adjacent to the outer ends thereof inthe portion indicated by the arrows xi This will tend to swing the arms downwardly applyingj'op posite pulls thereon at the runner eyes in the directionindicated by the arrows y and impose inward opposing thrusts against the pivot pin 28' bythebottom bar's- 25' in the direction indicated by the arrows z. Th1is wliile'-' the upper bars 26 will be cause'dto flex downwardly slightly, such downward movement will bechecked by" the engagement of the lower one of the runner eyes33- against the supporting or stop shoulder 22.

The reference character G designates the upper portion of a garment, such as a coat, which is shown in dotted outline in position upon the hanger, the neck opening for such garment being designated g.

The spring or resiliency of the arms has no function in supporting the garment and, accordingly, when such a garment is suspended from the hanger and it is desired to remove the garment smoothly and quickly without having to unbutton the same, as would be required for the removal of a conventional rigid one-piece hanger, inward pressure is applied to the two portions 26b of the two bars 26 at opposite sides of the shank it) thereby causing the lower eye 33 to slide off of the inclined shoulder 22 followed by the upper eye. The weight of the garment will then pull the arms down into the folded relation shown in Fig. 2, causing the eyes to slide downwardly on the lower end portion of the shank 143a and swinging the lower ends of the lower bars 25 downwardly around the pivot rivet 28. The bars of the two arms will be forced together at the ends which are joined to the shank a thereby placing the arms under tension as will be readily understood and as is illustrated in Fig. 2. The arms may then be readily withdrawn through the garment neck opening and as soon as the weight of the garment is released from the arms, the bars thereof will tend to spring apart and the arms will be restored by this spring action to their normally laterally extending positions relative to the hook shank.

It will be readily apparent from the foregoing that the operation above described for removing a garment from the hanger without unbuttoning the garment, may be carried out in reverse for the purpose of placing the garment hanger within a garment where the latter is already buttoned or if the garment should be of a type which is completely closed except for the neck opening, such as a pull-over sweater. Thus, in placing a garment on the hanger, the operator first presses down on the portions 26b of the upper bars 26, with the first and second fingers placed on opposite sides of the shank ltia, while the thumb of the same hand is placed beneath the rivet 23, thereby forcing the arms to collapse and swing down wardly to the position shown in Fi 2. The arms can then be easily inserted through the garment neck opening and when released, they will return to their normal outwardly extended positions due to the inherent resiliency of the bars, and more particularly to the springlike action of the top bar 26 of each arm which, of course, will be bent and placed under greater tension than the lower bars which will only be slightly bowed, as illustrated in Fig. 2. As soon as the runner eyes 33 rise above the inclined or obliquely directed leg 21, their tendency to separate will cause them to clasp the ofiset portion 23 and when the weight of the garment is then imposed on the outer ends of the arms, the entire hanger will assume a rigid condition corresponding to that of the conventional one-piece rigid hangers commonly used.

While the present invention has been referred to as fashioned of spring steel wire, it is to be understood that the construction of the same of other suitable material such as plastics and the like is contemplated and, therefore, the invention is not to be understood as limited to the use of wire.

It will be readily apparent from the foregoing that the present invention provides new and novel garment hangers particularly well suited for use in the manner set forth and of a design whereby they can be inexpensively produced from a variety of materials and, further the construction is such that there are no parts to get out of order thereby insuring an article of long life.

I claim:

1. A garment hanger comprising an elongate shank structure, means for supporting the same, a pair of arms each embodying spaced-apart upper and lower bars con nected together, a fixed pivot between each lower bar and the shank structure, means forming a sliding connection between each upper bar and the shank structure whereby the upper bars may slide on the shank into substantial engagement with the said fixed pivot, said arms having a garment supporting position in which they extend oppositely outwardly from the shank structure, and said upper bars each being resilient so that upon application of pressure thereon toward the underlying lower bar the free end of the upper bar may move into said substantial engagement with the pivot and whereby the upper and lower bars may swing about the pivot and the arm assumes a collapsed position in which it extends substantially longitudinally from the shank structure.

2. A garment hanger according to claim 1 wherein the sliding connections between the upper bars and the shank structure are separate from and independent of one another.

3. A garment hanger according to claim 1, wherein each of said arms embodies a continuous piece of material.

4. A garment hanger according to claim 1, wherein the means forming said sliding connection comprises an eye member joined to each upper bar and encircling the shank structure.

5. A garment hanger according to claim 1, with means for efiecting a releasable locking connection between each upper bar and the upper portion of the shank structure.

6. A garment hanger according to claim 1, wherein said sliding connection embodies an eye member joined to each upper bar and encircling the shank structure, and means for releasably holding the upper bars against sliding movement comprising an otfset in the upper portion of the shank structure into which may enter the eye member joined to each leg, said offset having a lower outwardly extending eye member supporting leg rest.

7. A garment hanger according to claim 1, wherein each of said arms embodies a single length of material bent intermediate its ends to form said upper and lower bars, the free end portion of each upper bar being fashioned to form an eye member encircling the shank structure and forming said sliding connecting means.

8. A garment hanger according to claim 1, wherein each of said arms embodies a single length of material bent intermediate its ends to form said upper and lower bars, said arms when in the said garment supporting position having the lower bar of each substantially perpendicular to the shank and having the upper bar in inwardly and upwardly divergent relation with the lower bar and the free end portion of each upper bar being fashioned to form an eye member encircling the shank structure and forming said sliding connecting means.

Clausen May 17, 1910 Varker Apr. 29, 1952 

